2021 Message from Our club president

Greetings Fellow Democrats:

I am pleased to share with you the annual report of the accomplishments and status of the Club required by our Bylaws. Despite the constraints of the pandemic, with Zoom we have been able to continue meeting and make 2020 a year of substantial achievements by our Club.

The Club took an active role in assisting the county party in the November election. Our Activists Chair Marette Reid assisted our two precinct chairs, Jeff Metz and Mike Walker, in recruiting volunteers to help distribute slate cards with all of the Democratic candidates to likely Democratic voters in Sun City. Marette and I organized volunteers to distribute those cards in the two precincts without a precinct chair.

With the economic hardships experienced by many as the result of the pandemic, the Club made a number of charitable donations. We donated directly to those employees at Mulligan's who waited on us during our Happy Hours. In addition, we contributed to the Caring Place, Central Texas Food Bank, and to families at Fort Hood through Celebration of Love. We got publicity in the Sun for our donation to The Caring Place and our logo on the sponsors' page of Celebration of Love.

In an effort to have greater financial impact to elect Democrats, we learned that the Club could contribute up to $1,000 to federal candidates, but that we had misconceptions about our status with regard to Texas election finance law. As a consequence, we amended our Bylaws for the Club itself to operate as a PAC, which will allow us to contribute more to support Democratic candidates from funds we have accumulated as a result of increased membership. That change also means that contributions will be approved by our Club Board.

We look forward to 2021 with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and Mike Gleason in office and not Trump and Chody. With the vaccines imminent, we hope to meet together in person soon.
 
Best of the new year to you all.

Mike Shay
President, Sun City Democrats Club

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